Chemistry - A European Journal
Chemistry - A European Journal
5 years ago

Photoelectrochemical Catalysis toward Selective Anaerobic Oxidation of Alcohols

Photoelectrochemical Catalysis toward Selective Anaerobic Oxidation of Alcohols
Fanyu Ning, Xue Duan, Ruikang Zhang, Zhenhua Li, Min Wei, Mingfei Shao, David G. Evans
Selective oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes plays an important role in perfumery, pharmaceuticals, and agrochemicals industry. Different from traditional catalysis or photocatalytic process, here we report an effective photoelectrochemical (PEC) approach for selective anaerobic oxidation of alcohols accompanied with H2 production by means of solar energy. By using TiO2 nanowires modified with graphitic carbon layer as photoanode, benzyl alcohol (BA) has been oxidized to benzaldehyde with high efficiency and selectivity (>99 %) in aqueous media at room temperature, superior to individual electrocatalytic or photocatalytic processes. Moreover, this PEC synthesis method can be effectively extended to the oxidation of several other aryl alcohols to their corresponding aldehydes under mild conditions. The electron spin resonance (ESR) results indicate the formation of intermediate active oxygen (O2.−) on the photoanode, which further reacts with alcohols to produce final aldehyde compounds. A green organic synthesis route, based on the photoelectrochemical water-splitting alcohol oxidation reaction coupling, has been developed.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/chem.201701107

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.